At the outset, it should be noted that statements made herein merely provide information related to the present disclosure and do not constitute any admission of prior art.
Packing assemblies have been used widely in various machines. In the field of oil and gas exploration and production, one such machine is the hydraulic fracturing pump that is typically used at the wellsite to pump a large quantity of fluid downhole at relatively high pressures to fracture rocks. Oil can then migrate to the wellbore through the fractures and the well productivity is significantly enhanced. A few examples of the fracturing pump have been disclosed in commonly assigned patent application publication Nos. US2011/0052423, WO 2011/027273, and WO 2011/027274, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into the current application in the entireties.
Notwithstanding the developments, there remains a need to further improve the machines, especially to stabilize the packing assembly and enhance the overall integrity of the machine.